Ascension
by DarkEyedDemon
Summary: A collection of oneshots about all your favorite flip cards from the Kamigawa series! PG13 just in case. R
1. Night's Caress

DarkEyedDemon: Yep, it's me again. I've decided to make a series of one-shots. I think I'm going to put them all in one story just as different chapters, but I'm not sure. Each one-shot will be about one of the flip cards from Champions and Betrayers of Kamigawa. Showing how the person ascends from worthless little thing that you would find in the discard pile more often than naught to a creature that can cause problems for everyone and their brother!

_**Night's Caress**_

Slick-Claw had never been a very lucky rat. Being a nezumi, he was born in the Takenuma Swamp, but that wasn't his real problem. The problem was his lack of strength, size, and good luck. When he was still young he had gotten himself lost in the deeper parts of the swamp. He walked in the same direction for days, expecting it to lead him back home, but he was actually walking farther and farther away. He never went back to his home and stumbled across a run-down tavern in the darker reaches of the swamp. The owner of the place gave him a job and that is where he's been ever since.

"Slick-Claw! There's a nice mess for you to clean up at the end of the bar!" the human bar-tender shouted. The timid little nezumi scuttled over to where a customer had spilled his drink…at least that's what he hoped had happened. He started wiping at the mess furiously, his rat nose basically impervious to the awful smell. As he cleaned, his sensitive ears picked up a conversation between two customers.

"Did you hear?" one of the men said. "Another two bodies went missing from that ol' graveyard the other night."

"That's five this week!" the other exclaimed. "What would anyone want with a bunch of corpses?" Slick-Claw snickered. Little did they know, there were plenty of things people wanted corpses for. He should know; he was the one who was taking them. It wasn't only the corpses that interested people, but sometimes the things they bore. He remembered coming across what looked like an ordinary trinket to him until he was caught by one of the swamp ogres. It was about to use Slick-Claw in its blood magic rituals when it noticed the amulet he had found. Not only had the object bought Slick-Claw his freedom, but he also came back with a large sack of food that night. He spent many nights defiling grave after grave, and when one graveyard ran out, he moved to another. He had nearly cleared this last one that he was going to be visiting tonight once his work was done.

He finished wiping up the mess beneath the bar and went back to the store-room to finish bringing out the large sacks of rice that supplied the only food the bar had to offer. He hauled bags in and out of the back room until sunset and he was allowed to go to the small room provided for him on the upper floor of the tavern. Once he was sure the streets of the small town were empty, he pulled from a loose floorboard a small knife and a big brown sack. Putting his weapon at his side, he opened the one window of his room and climbed out, scurrying down the wall of the tavern as if there were invisible hand and foot holds. He dropped noiselessly to the ground and dashed between shadows towards the graveyard he needed to get to. Upon reaching his destination, he jumped over the short wooden gate and moved towards the only grave that hadn't been dug up. He set his claws into the dirt and scooped out the soil furiously, digging as faster than anyone with a shovel. Within minutes he had reached the make-shift coffin underground.

Taking his knife, he slid the thin blade up and down the edge of the coffin's door until he heard the sound of splintering wood. He pulled the lid open with ease and stared in at the grizzly sight below him.

The corpse stared up with empty eye-sockets, its mouth open wide in the twisted grin of death. Upon lower inspection of the body, Slick-Claw noticed a large hole in the man's stomach, surrounded by strange symbols carved into his skin.

"Must be another kami," he said to no one in particular. Kami attacks had become almost a daily event, and the victims of such attacks were always left in the strangest of ways. Every body that the nezumi had unearthed from this site had been in a similar state, with a large hole and strange markings. It didn't really matter to him as he pulled the corpse from its resting place and threw it up to the ground above him. He started searching through the coffin for anything of value when both his ears and nose twitched, catching the sound and smell of someone entering the graveyard. It couldn't have been mourners; there was no regret in the Takenuma.

Slick-Claw hastily threw his back against the side of the grave, trying to make himself as flat and undetectable as possible. The sound of three approaching humans echoed through the rat's ears and he held his breath.

"Well well," one of them said. "Looks like we found out who's been raiding the bone-yards every night."

"Yeah," another croaked. "And it looks like it was a big rat!" Two powerful hands reached into the grave and roughly grabbed the fur on Slick-Claw's shoulders, hauling him up and tossing him away from the hole. When Slick-Claw had scrambled back to his feet, he was facing the two men he had been eavesdropping on in the tavern before, plus a new person. The three men each held their own short swords, and they were grinning at the nezumi menacingly. Slick-Claw had never been a very lucky rat.

Hastily drawing his dagger with shaky claws, Slick-Claw took aim and let his weapon fly through the air. He smiled with satisfaction as it imbedded itself in one of the men's legs, causing him to drop his sword and fall to the ground. Unfortunately, Slick-Claw realized his mistake too late. He now faced two armed men without a weapon.

"There's a high price on your head, rat," one of them spoke harshly. "Everyone wants to know who's been taking these corpses, especially the grave diggers." Slick-Claw searched frantically for a way to escape, but it was too late now. While he had been distracted by throwing his knife, the other man had made it behind him, getting between him and the exit of the graveyard. Slick-Claw closed his eyes and waited for the end to come, but nothing happened. When he reopened his eyes, a beam of black light was shooting up out of the grave he had just emptied. In the center of the column rose a twisted figure, and when the light faded Slick-Claw recognized it immediately as an oni. The creature had the standard third eye and curved horns of an oni, and looked a lot like the many corpses Slick-Claw had exhumed but with a large, bestial mouth. All three of the demon's eyes settled on the nezumi who went rigid with fear. It opened its mouth wide and shot out a wave of what looked like sharp talons, but the razor-sharp missiles did not pierce rat flesh. Instead, the claws shredded the three men, who died before even getting the chance to scream. The oni once again looked at Slick-Claw and to it in a voice like the cries of a thousand dieing men.

"You have freed me from my prison, have you not?" When Slick-Claw only looked confused, the demon elaborated. "I am Kashukyo, the oni lord of unlife. I was imprisoned in this graveyard and held here by the seals engraved on every corpse within this site."

"The markings!" Slick-Claw exclaimed, realization dawning on him.

"Yes, and for freeing me, I shall bestow upon you the ability that I rule over." The demon's third eye flashed and a strange sensation washed over Slick-Claw. The feeling remained as the demon opened its mouth and unleashed another wave of flying claws. The nezumi's jaw dropped in horror. It was too late to run away, and he screamed in his mind for someone, anyone to pull him out of the way of the projectiles. Suddenly, an unknown yet familiar pair of hands grabbed Slick-Claw and hauled him out of the path of claws that imbedded themselves in the ground where he once stood. He stared at the cluster of talons dumbly before looking up to see who had saved him. It was one of the men that had been killed by the demon, and by the looks of him he still should've been dead.

Slick-Claw looked to the other men but they were still on the ground. Coming up with an idea, he pointed his hands at both of them and willed them to get up and kneel down in front of him. A green light shot from his claws to each corpse, making them stand then kneel just as Slick-Claw had wanted them to. The nezumi was awe-struck. He could raise the dead! His awe shortly turned to suspicion as he remembered that most oni didn't give something without a catch. He turned towards the demon, expecting the task or toll that was surely to be asked of him.

"I have given you this power, and I expect you to use it to bring all to glorious unlife. Go now, my servant. Go and spread the living dead across the world, Nighteyes the Desecrator!" The demon disappeared like mist and Slick-Claw, no; Nighteyes was left alone except for his new minions. The nezumi looked from his claws that had resurrected the dead, to his new minions.

Breathing deeply, he put his hands back down at his sides and stared sternly at the three ghouls. "Well, you heard him! We have work to do!" The zombies nodded and stood as Nighteyes ushered them out of the graveyard. He would have to leave this town. All the graveyards were empty and he needed bodies that were already dead before he started killing some of his own. Slick-Claw had never been a very lucky rat. Nighteyes was one of the luckiest in the world.

DED: There it is, part one of my flip-card series! Please review!


	2. Life's Toll, Death's Gift

DarkEyedDemon: Hoo-ha! It's me! On with the second story of Ascension!

_**Life's Toll, Death's Gift**_

"Shidako!" A young orochi woman looked up from the hatchling she had been feeding as someone called her name. One of the older eggwatchers was standing nearby, two of her arms crossed over her chest, and the other two on her hips. "It's getting late, child, you were supposed to go back to your own nest hours ago."

Shidako smiled gently and nodded. "I'm aware, I won't be much longer." The older snake-woman shook her head and walked out of the hatchery that held most of the kashi-tribe's hatchlings. Shidako was an eggwatcher, and although she hadn't been doing it for very long, she was very skilled and found it to be her passion. Since she had started caring for the young, the kashi-tribe had swelled in numbers so extraordinarily that she had received personal recognition from master Sosuke himself. These extra numbers were quite necessary as well; they could use all the defense they could get against the raging kami. The war had been going on for a little over ten years, and things were becoming harsh for the orochi. Mad kami with bodies of blades and vicious kumo that could swallow an orochi whole had become commonplace here in Jukai.

Shidako laid the hatchling down to rest as she exited the hatchery. She knew that one day they would become the warriors fighting to protect all the orochi from their enraged gods, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sorrow. To her, it felt as if she was raising them to die. She tried to assure herself that such wasn't the case, but she couldn't completely get the thought out of her mind. As she strolled slowly through the large clearing that made up her village, her thoughts turned towards the more current problem with the war. Though the kashi-tribe was known for its skilled warriors, the most recent fighters haven't had time for proper training. They lacked some of the basic skills needed to fight, let alone to fight kami.

"You work yourself too hard, Shidako." The orochi woman nearly jumped as the voice cut through the night air. She turned and saw one of the tribe elders standing behind her. He was a wizened old orochi, bent with age and holding a gnarled walking staff, though he seemed to have an air of inner-strength about him.

"I only do what is right for the tribe, Master Kisho," she replied evenly.

"You do as your passion dictates, but passions are a strange thing. Some have believed they have found their own dozens of times, never to be actually right."

"I do what I love to do, and what is needed for our survival. Without new warriors, the kami will crush us in no time."

"Yes, but you know as well as I do we are not sending warriors to fight. What we are sending are soldiers, there is a big difference. A soldier fights with a weapon, without question, but it isn't until the soldier puts a meaning behind that force that he becomes a warrior."

Shidako furrowed her brow. "Forgive my ignorance, Elder, but I do not understand."

Kisho smiled and patted her shoulder with one of his four arms. "You will with time." With that, Shidako bowed and turned back on her way. When she reached her own next, she sat down on one of the tatami mats on the floor cross-legged and closed her eyes. Green energy started to emanate from her body as she sat. She had been practicing this same ritual every night since she had become an eggwatcher. She wasn't sure what it meant, she just knew there was magic within her being. All she had to do was find out its purpose. It seemed like an impossible task; each night she came no closer to understanding her ability's nature. About an hour later she opened her eyes and the energy disappeared. Heaving a sigh of defeat, she laid down on her bed and quickly fell asleep.

Shidako was awoken early in the morning by the sounds of battle. She sat up in bed and noticed that the sun still hadn't risen, but she could tell by the shrieks and roars outside that there was another kami attack. She hastily stood and ran out of her nest to be greeted by the sight of orochi warriors fighting terrible spirit beasts. _They've already made it into the village…the hatcheries!_

She ran around all of the carnage to where the hatcheries were, and was horrified at what she saw. Every hatchery was torn down and burning and she could only guess what had happened to the hatchlings. Shidako could feel her legs trembling as if the earth itself were shaking underneath her feet. Everything she had devoted her life to had just been torn down right under her nose. She was interrupted from her thoughts as four warriors came out of the nearby woods.

"Lady Shidako!" one called. "You must flee to safety!" Even before he finished his statement, a massive kumo emerged from the trees. It looked like a large pile of thorns and moss, and it opened its great, slavering mouth and roared its fury as it set towards the snake warriors trying to destroy it. One of the fighters broke away from the others foolishly, giving the kumo a chance to sink its vicious fangs into his mid-section. The orochi cried out in pain as the monster spit him out his lifeless body onto the ground in front of Shidako.

The eggwatcher stared in horror at the corpse in front of her. She turned her gaze up to the kumo and her expression became full of fury. Forest spirit or not, she could not just sit by and watch this thing kill her people. Her body became engulfed in that familiar green flame, but now she felt purpose behind it. Putting one hand on the bloody corpse on the ground, she reached her three others to the remaining warriors as the emerald energy leaped towards them. When it struck, their eyes flashed, and they attacked the kumo all at once.

They cleaved through the kumo's thick hide as if it were nothing more than paper, tearing the screeching monster to pieces with strength no orochi normally had. Once the beast was slain, determined to put their new strength to good use, the warriors rushed off to aid the rest of the village. Shidako fell down into a sitting position, surprised by her own action. She had little time to wonder at it though; there were more fighters that would need aid.

By sunrise, all of the attacking kumo had been defeated or driven back. The remaining defenders were counting the losses. Shidako was staring at her four hands when she heard footsteps in front of her. She looked up and saw the three warriors that she had empowered the previous night bowing in front of her.

"We've come to thank you, Broodmistress." She was about to tell them that she was only an eggwatcher when someone intervened.

"They are correct, Shidako, you possess the powers of a Broodmistress." She turned and saw the Elder Kisho standing behind her. Suddenly, his words rang through her head.

_A soldier fights with a weapon, without question, but it isn't until the soldier puts a meaning behind that force that he becomes a warrior._

The elder spoke in a low tone, so that only she could hear. "Their fallen comrade was their ideal, and it was their ideal that allowed your energy to strengthen them."

She looked at her hands once again. "These powers…if I am to become a Broodmistress, that means changing my influence to its opposite."

Although he wore a knowing smile, Kisho tilted his head curiously. "How-so?"

"As an eggwatcher, I thrived on life. But now, as a Broodmistress, I thrive on death."

"You think of it much too darkly. Rather, think of the deaths you must use as those giving their lives so that others may live." Shidako nodded and smiled slightly. From that day, she became known as one of the most powerful Broodmistresses in all of Jukai. She never took any fame, merely went from day to day, hoping for the time when her powers wouldn't be needed.

DED: So, there ya go. I've been working on making my stories longer; more detailed, but as you can see it's a very slow progression. Oh well, reviews please!


End file.
